Novak Djokovic will not participate in the Australian Open in the end… he was finally expelled.
The tennis star got the boot on Sunday after a 3-judge panel rejected his appeal to stay in the country after Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke revoked his visa for the second time…now under vindication “health and good order”. He was supposed to start playing on Monday.
Djokovic left Australia on a plane for Dubai earlier today… but it’s unclear where his final destination is. The Serbian Prime Minister called the decision “scandalous”… and ND also said he was disappointed.
One of Djokovic’s arguments for being allowed to stay – even if he is not vaccinated, which is a requirement for anyone traveling at the moment – was that firing him would only stoke anti- vaxx, contrary to what the Australian government wants.
The court didn’t buy that though… and ruled against it. This, of course, comes after Djokovic was freed earlier last week when a judge found the government acted too quickly in revoking his visa/holding it the first time…but the government again hit under different reasoning the second time around – citing safety/public interest.
Djokovic was given a medical exemption to begin with by two different tennis bodies, because he caught COVID in December – but in the end the Australian government overruled that… stressing that, in and of itself, was not a loophole that might be allowed on their watch.
‘See you next time!
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